Ever since Samuel Taylor Coleridge indulged in opium to produce his master poem Kubla Khan, artists, writers and musicians alike have turned to various chemical substances to fuel their inspiration. Not many, however, have taken to experimenting with nicotine patches – but that’s what apparently influenced the new Fleet Foxes album, Helplessness Blues.

NME.com reports that frontman Robin Pecknold was using the patches during the recording of the LP, particularly the new single Grown Ocean. The patches gave him strange dreams, which he then incorporated into song.

Pecknold said, “Yeah. If you use a nicotine patch it can give you really insane dreams, really vivid and real. It kinda got to the point where I’d put a nicotine patch on before going to bed to see what would happen.”

He added, “You’d have these really crazy experiences in your dreams. It was fun.”

Fleet Foxes’ much-anticipated second album is due for release in Australia on April 29. The band are set for some heavy touring in the following months, with US dates followed by the European festival season.

It was recently reported that the production of Helplessness Blues was a rather painful process for the band, what with the record having to be re-recorded after perfectionist Pecknold decided he wasn’t happy with it.